Archief NMBS / Archives SNCB

Already before the 1950s and the passing of the Archives Act (1955), the SNCB/NMBS expressed its desire to manage its archives independently and without being subject to the deposit of its archives in the State Archives. However, this desire was not matched by centralisation and the provision of sufficient resources. The result was a very scattered management of the archives, which were often stored in technical premises adjoining various buildings belonging to the Society. This was the case for the Personnel Department archives described here, which were moved at an unknown date to premises in the Gare de la Chapelle in Brussels (Rue des Ursulines).

As early as 1990, the AGR alerted the authorities to the storage conditions of the numerous archives stored under the Gare de la Chapelle. However, despite several reminders, it was not until 2013 that the SNCB undertook to ensure their conservation. In the meantime, several series had been severely damaged by damp and mould. In September 2016, the SNCB finally began to safeguard the archives that are the subject of this inventory: the entire collection was irradiated to ensure optimal decontamination. In November 2016, the collection was transferred to the AGR and an assistant was hired for a period of six months to clean the files and draw up a provisional inventory.

JACQUEMIN Madeleine, Inventaire des archives de la Société nationale des Chemins de fer belges (SNCB) : Service du Personnel : Dossiers concernant la Deuxième Guerre mondiale (Gestion des rémunérations et épuration administrative) (1929-1989), reeks Inventarissen Algemeen Rijksarchief nr. 675, publicatienr. 6152, Algemeen Rijksarchief, Brussel, 2021.

The inventory is divided into two parts. The first part concerns the management of salaries during the Second World War and the immediate post-war period. The second part contains the files relating to the management of the files of the Commissions of Inquiry set up to examine cases of uncivil behaviour by members of the SNCB staff during the Second World War by department P (52.4). In fact, this collection sheds essential light on the lives of several thousand SNCB employees, whether they were victims of the war (resistance fighters, those injured during bombings, etc.) or accused of collaboration.